Method, system and terminal for changing a management object of broadcast service guide

ABSTRACT

A method, system and terminal for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide. The method for changing an management object (MO) of a broadcast service guide includes: installing an MO tree by a terminal upon receiving a service guide for which at least one management object has been formed from a broadcast server; changing by the terminal a corresponding MO upon receiving a change-requested parameter of the service guide MO from a DM server; and updating by the terminal a corresponding portion of the service guide based on the changed MO. When the subscriber terminal which has received the broadcast service has a problem or needs to be updated, the problem of the terminal can be remotely, quickly and easily solved by correcting the change-requested parameter of the MO of the service guide of the terminal side according to a request of the server or the terminal.

This application is a Continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/162,470 filed on Jul. 28, 2008, which is a national phase of PCT International Application No. PCT/KR2007/000583 filed on Feb. 2, 2007, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/764,793 filed on Feb. 3, 2006 and to Patent Application No. 10-2007-0010903 filed in Republic of Korea, on Feb. 2, 2007. The entire contents of all of the above applications is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method, system and terminal for changing a management object (MO) of a broadcast service guide and, more particularly, to a method, system and terminal for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide capable of remotely solving a problem of a terminal quickly and easily by partially correcting a parameter requested to be changed among MOs of a service guide of a terminal side when the subscriber terminal that receives the broadcast service has a problem and upon receiving a corresponding request of a server or the terminal.

2. Description of the Related Art

A broadcast service refers to providing broadcast data(signals) or various supplementary information to a mobile terminal over the air interface. Namely, the broadcast service is a fresh type mobile terminal service including a service type that a service provider provides usable information to every subscriber of its service and a service type (multicast service) that the service provider provides information to only subscribers of a certain group which have subscribed to a certain item or contents.

The broadcast service basically provides the same service to multiple subscribers at the same time, and an advantage of such broadcast service is that subscribers can be managed in a one-to-multiple manner while providing the same service. Namely, multiple subscribers can be accommodated by a single transmission of the broadcast service.

Meanwhile, a device management (DM) technique to be applied to the broadcast service refers to a technique that when a particular processing command is received from a DM server, a DM client performs the corresponding command.

In such DM techniques, a state value that changes while an operation is being performed or a measured value that is measured periodically (or when a certain event occurs) or other types of values are formed by a certain device (e.g., a terminal) as at least one DM object of a DM tree (or other type of hierarchy structure used for performing device management), and such values are stored in the DM object whenever there is a change in such values. Accordingly, the DM server can remotely read and check the state value, the measurement value, and the like stored in the DM object(s) by using DM techniques.

The DM technique is based on a two-way protocol that a DM message may be transmitted and received through a DM session and a one-to-one communication protocol.

FIG. 1 is a signal flow chart schematically showing a main procedure of the DM protocols.

In order to transfer a DM command, the DM server should first create a DM session. Namely, the DM server transmits a DM session notification message to a terminal (or device) through pushing, the terminal is connected with the DM server to request a connection of the DM session.

In some cases, however, the DM session notification message may not be required (for example, when the device informs the DM server about a certain event generated therein).

Upon receiving the DM session request from the DM client, the DM server verifies authentication information of the device and allows a connection of a DM session to thus complete the connection of the DM session. After the DM session is connected, the DM server transfers the DM command to the DM client and the DM client performs the received DM command and transmits corresponding results to the DM server, by exchanging messages therebetween.

Then, the DM server may check the DM command performance results, and terminate the DM session or transmit a new DM command.

Through the session, the DM server may read resources existing in the device, provide new resources to the device, or change or delete resources existing in the device.

However, application of the terminal DM technique based on the two-way communication to the broadcast service has some problems as follows.

That is, the MO, the message format, used in the terminal DM technique has been defined centering on the two-way communication, not for the broadcast service.

In addition, because the broadcast service transmits broadcast contents in a point-to-multipoint manner, it does not consider whether to receive an OK response of a subscriber or not, and thus, when a corresponding subscriber terminal has a problem, a service provider cannot quickly cope with a corresponding situation to solve the problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, in order to address the above matters the various features described herein have been conceived. One aspect of the exemplary embodiments is to provide a method, system and terminal for changing an management object (MO) of a broadcast service guide capable of remotely solve a problem of a terminal quickly and easily by partially correcting a parameter requested to be changed among MOs of a service guide of a terminal side when the subscriber terminal that receives the broadcast service has a problem and upon receiving a corresponding request of a server or the terminal.

This specification provides a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide that may include: installing an MO tree by a terminal upon receiving a service guide for which at least one management object has been formed from a first server; changing by the terminal a corresponding MO upon receiving a request of changing the MO of a service guide from a second server; and updating by the terminal a corresponding portion of the service guide based on the changed MO.

This specification also provides a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide that may include: installing an MO tree by a terminal upon receiving a service guide for which at least one management object has been formed from a first server; changing by the terminal an MO requested to be changed upon receiving the MO from the first server; updating by the terminal a corresponding portion of the service guide based on the changed MO.

This specification also provides a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide that may include: installing an MO tree by a terminal upon receiving a service guide for which at least one management object has been formed from a first server; transferring to the first server, by the terminal, a request for changing a management object (MO) of the service guide for which an error has occurred; changing by the terminal the change-requested MO upon receiving a device management (DM) command with respect to the MO change request, which has been transferred to the first server, from a second server; and updating by the terminal a corresponding portion of the service guide based on the changed MO.

This specification also provides a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide that may include: installing an MO tree by a terminal upon receiving a service guide for which at least one management object has been formed from a first server; transferring to the first server, by the terminal, a request for changing a management object (MO) of the service guide for which an error has occurred; changing by the terminal the change-requested MO upon receiving a parameter of the change-requested MO from the first server; and updating by the terminal a corresponding portion of the service guide based on the changed MO.

This specification also provides a system that may include: a terminal that installs an MO tree of a service guide and updates a corresponding portion of the service guide based on a changed MO; a broadcast server that provides a service guide for which at least one management object has been formed to the terminal; and a DM server that receives a request for changing an MO from the broadcast server and transfers a DM command with respect to the change of the MO to the terminal.

This specification also provides a terminal that may include: a broadcast client that receives a service guide for which at least one management object has been formed from a first server; and a DM client that installs an MO tree upon receiving the service guide for which at least one management object has been formed from the broadcast client, and changes a parameter of a corresponding MO upon receiving a DM command with respect to a change of an MO from a second server.

The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a signal flow chart schematically showing a main procedure of a general device management (DM) protocol;

FIG. 2 is a tree distribution diagram showing an SGDD (Service Guide Delivery Description) management object (MO) of a broadcast service guide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a drawing illustrating how a server and a terminal communicate with each other according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a signal flow chart showing a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a signal flow chart showing a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a signal flow chart showing a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a signal flow chart showing a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The construction and operation of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The basic concept of the present invention is that when a subscriber terminal that receives a broadcast service has a problem, the problem of the terminal can be remotely solved quickly and easily such that a DM client of the terminal partially corrects a parameter requested to be changed of a service guide for which at least one management object has been formed (i.e., simply referred to as a ‘service guide’ hereafter) according to a corresponding requested of a server.

In order to implement the present invention, an MO, a message format defined in a terminal DM technique, should be defined in advance and an MO tree formed by reflecting a parameter essential for a broadcast service guide is required.

FIG. 2 is a tree distribution diagram showing an SGDD (Service Guide Delivery Description) management object (MO) of a broadcast service guide according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The SGDD of the service guide is first transmitted to a user to allow the user to determine whether to receive the service guide.

The broadcast service guide is information a subscriber initially receives before a broadcast service starts, having a file format that various supplementary functions are added to broadcast program resources. The service guide includes several fragments which are connected with each other and mutually referred to.

Among the fragments of the service guide, the SGDD is first transmitted to the terminal in order to provide a criteria (or basis) that allows the terminal to decide whether or not reception is desirable, prior to actually transmitting the service guide fragment that can be viewed by the user on the terminal.

The tree structure is a rule (or set of rules) determined by a DM Enabler, and regulations can be determined (or set) to allow communication between the terminal and the DM server by using a format shared therebetween. The parameters to be used may already be known in the art and determined by a known Broadcast (BCAST) Enabler, and thus a description of the particular functions of each parameter will be omitted merely for the sake of brevity.

An example of a detailed specification of the SGDD MO tree is shown below. In particular, a relative portion of the specification is shown, whereby the SGDD MO tree contains respective nodes being arranged according to the requirements appropriate for the regulations (or rules) determined by the DM Enabler.

The MO tree is implemented by maintaining the form as the specification shown below. Herein, Occurrence indicates a number of configuration of a corresponding node, Format indicates a parameter type (integer, Character, etc.), Access Types defines a method for accessing the MO by the DM server, including Get, Add, Automatic, Copy, Delete, and Exec, etc.

For example, the ‘Access Types: Get’ refers to retrieving data from a recipient. If a target of a ‘Get’ command is an interior node, a list of the children node names is returned as a result element.

Also, the values may identify certain matters to be additionally defined or shared.

One example of a detailed specification of the SGDD MO tree is as follows.

For example, in/<x>/SG, the SG node acts as a placeholder for all the information regarding the service guide.

-   -   Occurrence: One     -   Format: Node     -   Access Types: Get

Values: N/A

In/<x>/SG/SGDD/<x>, <x> acts as a placeholder for all the Service Guide Delivery Descriptor.

-   -   Occurrence: One     -   Format: Node     -   Access Types: Get     -   Values: N/A

In/<x>/SG/SGDD/<x>, <x> acts as a placeholder for the information of each Service Guide Delivery Descriptor.

-   -   Occurrence: OneorMore     -   Format: Node     -   Access Types: Get     -   Values: N/A

In addition <x> node acts as a placeholder for all the Notification reception parameters.

-   -   Occurrence: One     -   Format: Node     -   Access Types: Get     -   Values: N/A

In/<x>/SG/SGDD/<x>/NotificationReception/port, the port node specifies the General Notification Message delivery UDP Port number; delivery over Broadcast Channel.

-   -   Occurrence: ZeroOrOne     -   Format: integer     -   Access Types: Get     -   Values: <UDP Port Number>

In/<x>/SG/SGDD/<x>/NotificationReception/ address, the address node specifies the General Notification Message delivery IP multicast address; delivery over Broadcast Channel.

-   -   Occurrence: ZeroOrOne     -   Format: string     -   Access Types: Get     -   Values: <IP multicast address >

In/<x>/SG/SGDD/<x>/NotificationReception/requestURL, the requestURL node specifies the URL through which the terminal can poll general Notification Messages over Interaction Channel.

-   -   Occurrence: ZeroOrOne     -   Format: chr     -   Access Types: Get     -   Values: <anyURI >

In/<x>/SG/SGDD/<x>/NotificationReception/pollURL, the pollURL node specifies the URL through which the terminal can subscribe to general Notification Messages; delivery over Interaction Channel.

-   -   Occurrence: ZeroOrOne     -   Format: chr     -   Access Types: Get     -   Values: <anyURI >

In/<x>/SG/SGDD/<x>/DescriptorEntry, DescriptorEntry node acts as a placeholder of the entries in the Service Guide Delivery Descriptor.

-   -   Occurrence: One     -   Format: Node     -   Access Types: Get     -   Values: N/A

In/<x>/SG/SGDD/<x>/DescriptorEntry/<x>, <x> node acts as a placeholder of the information of each entry in the Service Guide Delivery Descriptor.

-   -   Occurrence: OneOrMore     -   Format: Node     -   Access Types: Get     -   Values: N/A

Besides, specifications have been defined by nodes of the MO tree as shown in FIG. 2, description therefor will be omitted because those merely show examples.

With the service guide MO tree installed in the terminal, when the service MO of the terminal needs to be changed or updated, the method for changing the MO of the broadcast service guide according to the present invention is applied according to a request of the server or the terminal.

Hereinafter, four exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described.

FIG. 3 is a drawing illustrating how a server and a terminal communicate with each other according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the broadcast server and the DM server can be constituted as a single server, and in case of the terminal, there can be a particular terminal which is previously designated and a plurality of non-designated terminals.

FIG. 4 is a signal flow chart showing a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 4, first, the broadcast server transmits a service guide MO obtained by the service guide to the broadcast client.

The broadcast client transmits the received service guide MO to the DM client, and in this case, the MO is provided as a format that can be recognized by the DM client.

The DM client installs the MO tree with the service guide MO. Namely, upon receiving the service guide MO, the DM client searches a parameter of the service guide and maps the corresponding parameter to the DM tree.

In this state, when the terminal has a problem so a response is not clear or when a new parameter needs to be updated, the broadcast server communicates with the DM server in order to check which portion of the service guide MO has been changed or updated, and accordingly shares the changed parameter or updated parameter information with the DM server.

Subsequently, the DM server transfers a DM command with respect to the change in the corresponding MO parameter to the DM client.

In this case, the DM command of the MO change is selected by one of Add, Get or Replace.

Upon receiving the DM command with respect to the changing of the MO from the DM server, the DM client corrects a corresponding parameter value of the DM tree to the changed parameter value.

And then, the DM client maps the changed parameter value of the DM tree to a corresponding portion of the service guide, thus updating the service guide.

FIG. 5 is a signal flow chart showing a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 5, first, the broadcast server transmits a service guide MO to the broadcast client of the terminal, and the broadcast client transmits the service guide MO to the DM client.

The DM client installs a DM tree with the service guide MO. Namely, upon receiving the service guide MO, the DM client searches a parameter of the service guide and maps a corresponding parameter to the DM tree.

In this state, when the terminal has a problem so a response is not clear or when a new parameter needs to be updated, the broadcast server communicates with the DM server in order to check which portion of the service guide MO has been changed or updated, and accordingly shares the changed parameter or updated parameter information with the DM server.

In this case, if the service is to be provided to multiple non-designated terminals, the broadcast server transfers the change-requested MO parameter to broadcast clients of the multiple terminals.

Subsequently, the broadcast client transfers the change-requested MO parameter to the DM client.

In this case, the DM client corrects a corresponding parameter value of the MO tree to the changed new parameter value.

And the DM client maps the changed parameter value of the MO tree to a corresponding portion of the service guide, thereby finally updating the service guide.

FIG. 6 is a signal flow chart showing a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 6, first, the broadcast server transmits a service guide MO to the broadcast client of the terminal.

The broadcast client transmits the received service guide MO to the DM client, and in this case, the MO is provided in a format that can be recognized by the DM client.

The DM client installs a DM tree with the service guide MO. Namely, upon receiving the service guide MO, the DM client searches a parameter of the service guide and maps a corresponding parameter to the DM tree.

In this state, when the terminal has a problem so a response is not clear or when a new parameter needs to be updated, the broadcast client of the terminal directly transfers a change or update request signal to the broadcast server.

Then, the broadcast server communicates with the DM server in order to check which portion of the service guide MO has been changed or updated, and accordingly shares the changed parameter or updated parameter information with the DM server.

Subsequently, the DM server transfers a DM command with respect to the changing of the MO parameter to the DM client.

In this case, the DM command of changing of the MO is selected by one of Add, Get or Replace.

Upon receiving the DM command with respect to changing of the MO from the DM server, the DM client corrects the corresponding parameter value of the MO tree to the changed parameter value.

And then, the DM client maps the changed parameter value of the MO tree to a corresponding portion of the service guide, thereby finally updating the service guide.

FIG. 7 is a signal flow chart showing a method for changing an MO of a broadcast service guide according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 7, first, the broadcast server transmits a service guide MO to the broadcast client of the terminal, and the broadcast client transmits the service guide MO to the DM client.

The DM client installs a DM tree with the service guide MO. Namely, upon receiving the service guide MO, the DM client searches a parameter of the service guide and maps a corresponding parameter to the DM tree.

In this state, when the terminal has a problem so a response is not clear or when a new parameter needs to be updated, the broadcast client of the terminal directly transfers a change or update request signal to the broadcast server.

Then, the broadcast server communicates with the DM server in order to check which portion of the service guide MO has been changed or updated, and accordingly shares the changed parameter or updated parameter information with the DM server.

In this case, if the service is to be provided to multiple non-designated terminals, the broadcast server transfers the change-requested MO parameter to broadcast clients of the multiple terminals.

Subsequently, the broadcast client transfers the change-requested MO parameter to the DM client.

In this case, the DM client corrects a corresponding parameter value of the MO tree to the changed new parameter value.

And the DM client maps the changed parameter value of the MO tree to a corresponding portion of the service guide, thereby finally updating the service guide.

It should be understood that the features described herein are related to various types of communication standards, such as OMA, 3GPP, 3GPP2, IEEE and the like.

As so far described, according to the present invention, when the subscriber terminal that receives the broadcast service has a problem or needs to be updated, the problem of the terminal can be remotely, quickly and easily solved by correcting the change-requested parameter of the MO of the service guide of the terminal side according to a request of the server or the terminal.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalents of such metes and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for receiving a broadcast service, the method performed by a terminal and comprising: receiving, by the terminal and from a first server for the broadcast service, a delivery descriptor for a service guide to the broadcast service; receiving, by the terminal and from the first server, at least one or more fragments of the service guide; storing, by the terminal, at least one or more parameters needed for the terminal to receive the broadcast service, in at least one or more management objects (MOs) in form of device management (DM) tree thereby being provided to and managed by a second server for the DM; and acquiring, by the terminal, at least one or more updated parameters needed for the terminal capable of receiving the broadcast service.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one or more updated parameters are received from the second server for the DM.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one or more updated parameters are broadcasted from the first server.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving at least one update of the delivery descriptor and the fragment of the service guide.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the update is broadcasted from the first server.
 6. The method of claim 4 wherein the update is received in response to a request of the terminal.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal includes a first client for the broadcast service and a second client for device management.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the DM tree includes information required to receive a notification.
 9. A terminal for receiving a broadcast service, comprising: a first client unit configured for the broadcast service and to receive, from a first server for the broadcast service, a delivery descriptor for a service guide to the broadcast service and at least one or more fragments of the service guide, wherein at least one or more parameters needed for the terminal to receive the broadcast service are stored in at least one or more management objects (MOs) in form of device management (DM) tree thereby being provided to and managed by a second server for the DM; and wherein the terminal acquires at least one or more updated parameters needed for the terminal capable of receiving the broadcast service.
 10. The terminal of claim 9, wherein the at least one or more updated parameters are received from the second server for the DM.
 11. The terminal of claim 9, wherein the at least one or more updated parameters are broadcasted from the first server.
 12. The terminal of claim 9, wherein the first client is further configured to receive at least one update of the delivery descriptor and the fragment of the service guide.
 13. The terminal of claim 12, wherein the update is broadcasted from the first server.
 14. The terminal of claim 12, wherein the update is received in response to a request of the terminal.
 15. The terminal of claim 9, wherein the terminal includes a first client for the broadcast service and a second client for device management.
 16. The terminal of claim 9, wherein the DM tree includes information required to receive a notification. 